Coronavirus

The Pacific has a high dependency on food imports; for example, Fiji imports 85 per cent of its rice from Vietnam and Thailand.

Pacific Beat understands that the Australian government is currently reviewing each Pacific nation's food security risk, with some concern that while borders may be left open for cargo, not all ships may continue to operate.

The world's biggest entertainment group operates theme parks and hotels in the US, Europe and Asia.

Stopping pay for almost half of its workforce will save Disney up to $500m (£400m) a month, according to the Financial Times.

Disney made operating income of $1.4bn for its parks, experiences and products in the last three months of 2019.

The company said it will provide full healthcare benefits for staff placed on unpaid leave and urged its US employees to apply for government benefits through the $2tn coronavirus stimulus package. 

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is asking people who have recovered from Covid-19 to donate their blood so they can assess the therapy in trials.

The hope is that the antibodies they have built up will help to clear the virus in others.

The US has already started a major project to study this, involving more than 1,500 hospitals.

When a person has Covid-19, their immune system responds by creating antibodies, which attack the virus.

Over time these build up and can be found in the plasma, the liquid portion of the blood.

Starting last night's address to the nation, Prime Minister Henry Puna thanked God for giving people courage and strength during the country's greatest threat in modern history.

He said hundreds of Covid-19 tests taken in the Cook Islands had come back negative, and the country can officially be confirmed as a Covid-free zone - one of the first nations in the world to do so.

This means some of the more restrictive Code Yellow measures introduced in late March to stop the virus, will now be eased.

"We have just come too far, we've lost too many loved ones, we've already sacrificed far too much to ease up now, especially when we are beginning to see the evidence that our efforts are starting to pay off," Raab told reporters.

Raab is deputising while Prime Minister Boris Johnson recuperates from Covid-19 complications that nearly cost him his life.

The Mobility Trends Report produces three daily percentage figures, showing how many fewer people are driving, walking and using public transport compared with on 13 January, before the coronavirus lockdowns came into effect.

It covers major cities and national figures for 63 countries. Hong Kong is included but not mainland China.

It follows a similar effort by Google.

“Port Vila Municipal Council will use the time to correct the hygiene deficiencies at the Market House,” City Clerk Peter Sakita said.

It is now a widely held fact that poor hygiene spreads coronavirus and PVMC has to address the hygiene, cleanliness, social distancing issues because the Port Vila markets attracts hundreds of people daily.

There are now 135 confirmed coronavirus cases in Guam.

Five people have died from the virus.

Governor Lou Leon Guerro said the Health Department tested 30 samples and all were negative.

But she says one postive case was reported from the Diagnostic Laboratory Services.

66 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Guam.

Johnson, 55, was taken to London's St Thomas' Hospital on Sunday (local time) - 10 days after testing positive for Covid-19.

He spent three nights in intensive care before returning to a ward on Thursday.

He said in a video on Twitter that he had witnessed the "personal courage" of hospital staff on the front line.

Johnson said two nurses - Jenny from Invercargill, New Zealand and Luis from Portugal - stood by his bedside for 48 hours at the most critical time and named several other hospital workers who cared for him this past week that he wanted to thank.

A tally from the US-based Johns Hopkins university shows the number of reported cases worldwide has roughly doubled since April 2, while the global death toll stands at 119,483.

Restrictions imposed to halt the spread of coronavirus have been slightly eased in some countries although health officials around the world are concerned that halting quarantine and social distancing measures could easily undo hard-earned progress.